This is a sad story of a dog who was caught in a deadly 220 body-gripping trap. It is a story of what can happen if the dog is not found immediately or does not die immediately from the trap encounter.

Kobe's incident happened south of Moose Lake. The trapper set a baited and scented trap out to catch bobcat. What he caught was a 7 year-old husky. It’s unknown how many days Kobe was caught with his face in this trap because the current regulations allow a trapper to check this type of trap only once every three days. Poor Kobe! I can only imagine the pain and sheer terror he must have felt being caught and helpless. Normally, this type of trap would kill the animal, but Kobe survived!

The trapper contacted a DNR official who then contacted an Animal Control Officer. Even though he was at death’s door, he wagged his tail. Kobe’s head was swollen to 3X its normal size when he arrived at the local Cloquet Veterinarian. Kobe’s eyes were infected and there were huge gashes on both the left and right sides of his face from the sheer force of this trap. The tissue on his cheeks sloughed off due to nerve damage and he has been undergoing debriding procedures to help his skin stay healthy and clean. In addition, his eyes needed to be taken out.

Now Kobe is blind and it is still unknown whether the damage in his right ear will affect his hearing. We pray that his wounds will eventually heal, but the trauma of this event and the lessons learned should never be forgotten.

The reality of this event is a sobering reminder of the need for our trapping regulations to change. This would not have happened if this trap would have been elevated 5’ off the ground. The bobcat could have easily been caught in a foothold trap, and Kobe would not have been catastrophically hurt.

We need the following changes to help protect our dogs from deadly traps:

•Five feet above the ground or

•Submerged in water or

•In dog-resistant enclosure

(All on both public and private land)

We are asking that if Kobe's story affects you that you contact your state representative and request that they support legislation changing the trapping rules and regulations.